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Palestinian killed during Israeli raid in the West Bank

Video of the killing shows Palestinian man being beaten by soldiers after a raid by Israeli troops in the West Bank.

22 Feb 2018 16:48 GMT

Israeli forces detained more than 30 Palestinians in raids across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem last week [File: Mohamad Torokman/Reuters]

A Palestinian man has been killed by Israeli security forces following a confrontation in the occupied West Bank on Thursday.

A Palestinian official described the killing as an "execution", while the Israeli military said it was in self-defence.

Yassin Omar al-Saradih, 33, died shortly after being taken into custody by Israeli security forces in Jericho early on Thursday, Palestine's Maan news agency reported.

The Israeli troops had launched an operation to arrest "suspects" in the town, the Israeli military said in a statement without elaborating.

Video footage of the incident - published by Israel's Haaretz and Times of Israel news sites - showed soldiers kicking and striking a man, identified by Palestinian officials as al-Saradih, after appearing to have shot him.

The Israeli military confirmed the video shows an incident that took place early Thursday in Jericho, Hareetz reported.

Issa Qarage, head of the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners' Affairs, said al-Saradih's death was caused by severe blows to his head.

The killing was a "crime, execution, and premeditated murder at the hands of [Israeli] occupation forces", Maan quoted Qarage as saying.

The Israeli military said the man had attempted to attack soldiers and it was investigating the incident.

"In response to the immediate threat, the troops fired toward the assailant and confronted him from close range and were able to stop him," the statement said.

"A knife was also found in his possession. Troops evacuated him to a hospital to receive medical treatment. His death was later announced. The incident is being reviewed."

The killing comes a week after Israeli forces detained more than 30 Palestinians in raids across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Israel occupied the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and East Jerusalem in 1967. Today, between 600,000 and 750,000 Israeli settlers live in more than 200 Jewish-only settlements on occupied land, which are illegal under international law.